The strangest golfer I’ve met

I promise there is a golf lesson at the end of all this – just hang in there please.

David is the strangest (in want of a better word) golfer I have encountered in my time doing this golf thing. He has sent emails and left the odd comment on the blog, has also purchased some products and I even did a review of his swing (he sent in a video and I gave my comments). Then one day in 2010 he sent this little gem through (please ignore the spelling mistakes),

Hi Cameron,
Tried to read the comments from your mates tonight: just gave up….. useless!
Automatic golf is definitely not for me if these desparates have been taken in by it: regret wasting some of my time in this way.
Would try and enjoy trying for specific goals rather than wafting around esoteric ideals with this lot!
Let’s not waste each other’s valuable time. I asked for specific tasks/definite goals/techniques/mindsets/even drills!: now don’t expect to recieve any from this directon.
It’s only golf: but we love it! (in our own way, probably not yours, definitely NOT theirs!)

Wow. I was taken back and quite angry with this. It bothered me and I had trouble letting it go. I had spent considerable time going back and forwards on email with him and gave my best effort in trying to help him. Wasn’t sure he was having a bad day (or life) and I eventually responded with this,

CS: Very sorry David that I haven’t bent over further for you in the last
few days. I can hardly believe your attitude here. Seriously, on more
than one occasion I have ignored your behavior but have kept going
because I thought you had something to offer.

Thanks for teaching me a valuable lesson.

I hadn’t heard from David since 2010, but he popped up again the other day when he sent these beautiful messages through;

I have received an email from some stranger telling me to download something “to cure my slice”! Get real, cowboys, the link didn’t work, anyway!
Send me what I have paid for and f**k off.

and

would have thought that you might prioritise your activities into fixing your atrocious website links before playing with meaningless email contruction (sic) to people who just don’t care……
finally somebody has got your attention, short-span as it obviously is.

Bad links are an annoyance and they shouldn’t happen – but a quick email and the matter would have been solved. But not with David, he likes to go a bit further. The funny thing here is that David has re-signed up after his account was deleted. He is also reading the website on a regular basis and couldn’t help but purchase a product or two that was on offer. Not bad from a guy who thought this wasn’t for him.

So what’s the golf lesson here?

David is like Pesky. He can distract you and cause you to lose focus. It’s all too easy to change plans and bend over to please the town clown. But you’ve got to resist. When you hit a bad shot, get an unlucky bounce or start feeling frustrated, you’ve got to keep moving forward – you’ve gotta keep playing the game. Pesky is a side-effect of entering the arena and when he shows up you know you’re on the right track.

So embrace the Pesky of your universe. By not attaching too much negative emotional energy to his ways will allow you to get on with things. This took me a long time to learn. I’d lose the plot after a string of bad golf and get really upset with negative feedback about my writing. But not anymore – Pesky is not real and his garbage flies in and then flies out. He can test you from time to time, but ultimately you have full control and this is what makes him more like a mushroom than a menace,

He is kept in the dark and fed manure

The really good bit: By accepting the odd annoyance you get less of them. When it comes to golf you ultimately have more good days than those horrible bad ones – and this makes golf far more enjoyable and rewarding.